At this time in my life, I would never dare say that what I do on a bike is “intense,” “epic,” or the most overused word in the modern day cyclist’s lexicon– “rad.” However, I do usually have a loose plan for what I want to do. Most of my rides are based on time in the saddle (but usually by how much time I have), while others are merely based on a desired loop or the amount of miles I want to cover. What I rarely do is just putz around. What I mean by “putz around” is to ride without a planned route or set goal. I also rarely ride the trails of Deerfield Park, a local county park just a few minutes by car from my house. Today though, I not only putzed around, I putzed around on a bike at Deerfield Park.
My original plan (as I mentioned yesterday) was to ride the damp dirt and gravel roads on the Farley. Well, when I woke up this morning the winds were once again blowing (around 20 mph according to weather.com) and I had little desire to be blown by them. I also didn’t feel like driving 25 minutes to MMCC to ride. Instead I drove 10 minutes and sheltered myself from the winds in the woods of Deerfield.
Deerfield’s trails are made up mostly of two-track, wide sandy XC ski trails and a bit singletrack. None of the trails are all that long, so you have to be pretty creative (as well as not mind doings some trails a few times) to get anything worth while in. In other words it’s the perfect place to putz around and even perfecter (I know that’s not a word) for putzing on the fat bike. Too bad the trails–to my knowledge–are off limits to bikes in the winter due to XC ski grooming (not that that has ever stopped asshole dog walkers and hikers, but I digress).
I did a couple of laps of some standard loops, then did some of the cross over trails and putzed down by the river (By the way, why does “down by the river” always sound so sinister?).
The bike really felt good and today’s ride felt much better than Saturday’s ride at MMCC. I think that the Deerfield trails were a better place to get accustomed to the Farley, they are less lumpy and rocky and more sandy and soft. Many of the trails also had a thick layer of pine needles covering them and between the fat, low PSI tires and the needles it felt like I was riding on thick, luxurious 70s shag carpeting (in a good way).
I somehow managed to have fun, something I have done too few times when riding Deerfield and somehow rode enough to feel like I did something, despite all the putzing. It wasn’t Plan A and I don’t think it was even plan B or C, but I got my ass on a bike for a bit in the woods, got a sweat on, and successfully avoided the wind, so that was pretty rad awesome. Tomorrow will most likely bring more of the same but with less putzing and less Deerfield.
Nine. I believe I used the phrase putz, putzing or putzed nine times. Twelve if you included that last sentence.
Later.